Previous SFF Author: Frank Aubrey
Speculative fiction in audiobook format.
Merchanter’s Luck by C.J. Cherryh
Tantor Audio has recently released two of C.J. Cherryh’s ALLIANCE-UNION novels, Merchanter’s Luck (1982) and Forty Thousand in Gehenna, together under the title Alliance Space. I’m going to review the novels separately since that’s the way they were originally published and can still be purchased. However, I love that you can get them both in one Kindle edition or one 22-hour long audiobook!
March 12th, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | C.J. Cherryh | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
E.J. Beaton’s The Councillor (2020) is a political fantasy whose smooth prose carries one smartly if slowly through the well-worn grooves of the genre. And therein one can see both the novel’s strengths and its weaknesses, which together result in a solid if somewhat overly long and overly familiar story.
Lysande Prior — commoner, orphan, and scholar — has risen to become advisor and friend to the warrior Queen Sarelin, who recently put down a nearly-successful attempt by the White Queen to restore elemental magic users (a currently persecuted minority group) to their former ruling position in Elira.
March 11th, 2021. Bill Capossere and Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | E.J. Beaton | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Call of the Bone Ships by R.J. Barker
Call of the Bone Ships (2020) is the second book in R.J. Barker’s TIDE CHILD trilogy. The first book, The Bone Ships, introduced Joron Twiner, first mate to a tough and effective sea captain named Lucky Meas. Sailing and politics collide when their disreputable ship Tide Child was assigned to find and protect the last of a valuable but possibly extinct sea dragon species.
March 3rd, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | R.J. Barker | Audio | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Death Weavers (2016) is the fourth of five novels in Brandon Mull’s FIVE KINGDOMS series. This is a fun adventure that I’d recommend for middle grade readers. You’ll want to read the first three books, Sky Raiders, Rogue Knight, and Crystal Keepers, before picking up Death Weavers. I’ll assume you’ve read them and I may include minor spoilers for those earlier installments in this review.
February 16th, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Brandon Mull | Audio, Children | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Crystal Keepers by Brandon Mull
Crystal Keepers (2015) is the third of five installments in Brandon Mull’s FIVE KINGDOMS series for kids. It follows Sky Raiders and Rogue Knight, which you’ll want to read first. There are a couple of spoilers for those novels in this review.
The story is about some middle grade kids who went to a haunted house on Halloween and were kidnapped and sold into slavery in a parallel universe called the Outskirts or the Five Kingdoms.
February 2nd, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Brandon Mull | Audio, Children | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Today I Am Carey by Martin L. Shoemaker
Carey is a robot whose job is to provide health care and companionship for humans, especially for elderly people with dementia. Carey is equipped with an “empathy net” which allows him to understand the feelings of the people he cares for, and an “emulation net” which lets him change his appearance, voice, and mannerisms so he can pretend to be someone else. The purpose is to help ease the anxieties of patients with dementia.
When we first meet Carey, he is the caretaker for an elderly woman named Mildred.
January 25th, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 5 | Martin L. Shoemaker | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Physicians of Vilnoc by Lois McMaster Bujold
The Physicians of Vilnoc (2020) is another installment in Lois McMaster Bujold’s PENRIC AND DESDEMONA series which is set in the same world as her award-winning FIVE GODS / CHALION trilogy. You don’t need to read the CHALION books first, but I highly recommend them. Most of the PENRIC AND DESDEMONA novellas can stand alone, but it’s best to read them in order if you can.
January 21st, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Lois McMaster Bujold | Audio, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Orphans of Raspay by Lois McMaster Bujold
Those of us who are big fans of Lois McMaster Bujold, now age 71, are always thrilled to have a new story from her. These days she’s been writing novellas and most of them are PENRIC AND DESDEMONA stories, a spin-off from her award-winning FIVE GODS / CHALION trilogy.
The Orphans of Raspay (2019) is the seventh of these novellas, if we go by publication order,
January 19th, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Lois McMaster Bujold | Audio, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Girlfriends Mal and Lee are cryptid hunters. They don’t believe in any of the monsters they hunt, of course, but it’s fun to follow the clues and debunk the myths for their blog. But on their last adventure, they saw some weird stuff and Mal disappeared.
That was four years ago. Now, suddenly, Lee runs into Mal on the street in London and she’s with a man who looks like a Neanderthal. Where has she been and why is she with that guy?
January 14th, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Adrian Tchaikovsky | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Thousand Deaths of Ardor Benn by Tyler Whitesides
Ardor Benn and his friend and partner Raekon Dorrel are con artists. They live in a world where a substance called grit (extracted from dragon poo) has magical properties.
There are different types of grit, depending on what the dragon ate, and they can be used to create various magical effects. Drift grit, for example, lets the user float in the air like a helium balloon, and barrier grit creates a temporary invisible wall.
Ard and Raek are clever and resourceful,
January 13th, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Tyler Whitesides | Audio | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Previous SFF Author: Frank Aubrey
Just saw you like Jack Vance. Me too. Surely he offends you somewhere though?
Words fail. I can't imagine what else might offend you. Great series, bizarre and ridiculous review. Especially the 'Nazi sympathizer'…
"Nor Iron Bars a Cage by Kage Harper" Freudian slip there. ;)
[…] (Fantasy Literature): In 1957, Hammer Studios in England came out with the first of their full-color horror creations, […]
I'm going to have to find these and read them.